TRIGGERED MEMORIES
January 30, 2017
By Olivene Godfrey
When Tam gave me a pretty blue chenille robe for Christmas, it opened the floodgates of memories dating back to the summer of 1944. I was scheduled to graduate from high school in 1945 if all went well. I spent the summer working in a chenille factory in the small north Georgia town of Calhoun to make enough money for my senior school clothes. It was uncomfortable work but paid more than dime store jobs.
In the 1920's and 1930's, Dalton in Northwest Georgia became the tufted bedspread capital of the United States thanks to Catherine Evans who initially revived the handcraft technique in the 1890's. During the depression era merchants organized "spread houses" which maintained families during the depression years. The first to make a million dollars in the bedspread business was Dalton native, B.J. Bandy with the help of his wife, Dixie Bradley Bandy, to be followed by many others. When Mrs. Bandy was older, I met and had a ride with her in her Cadillac. She was a delight. I wrote a daily column in the Dalton's Daily Citizen in the 1970's and Mrs. Bandy was one of my readers. Later, robes and bath mats were also made.
I am writing this on the weekend and haven't been feeling well. Barry and I are afraid my hellish COPD is getting worse. If you are still smoking, for God's sake STOP!! Barry thinks if I hadn't quit smoking in 1999, I wouldn't be alive today. I quit cold turkey and never backslid. I had chronic bronchitis and really suffered. Since I quit, I never had bronchitis again.
See you next time. Comments welcome. (Edited and typed by Tam.)
By Olivene Godfrey
When Tam gave me a pretty blue chenille robe for Christmas, it opened the floodgates of memories dating back to the summer of 1944. I was scheduled to graduate from high school in 1945 if all went well. I spent the summer working in a chenille factory in the small north Georgia town of Calhoun to make enough money for my senior school clothes. It was uncomfortable work but paid more than dime store jobs.
In the 1920's and 1930's, Dalton in Northwest Georgia became the tufted bedspread capital of the United States thanks to Catherine Evans who initially revived the handcraft technique in the 1890's. During the depression era merchants organized "spread houses" which maintained families during the depression years. The first to make a million dollars in the bedspread business was Dalton native, B.J. Bandy with the help of his wife, Dixie Bradley Bandy, to be followed by many others. When Mrs. Bandy was older, I met and had a ride with her in her Cadillac. She was a delight. I wrote a daily column in the Dalton's Daily Citizen in the 1970's and Mrs. Bandy was one of my readers. Later, robes and bath mats were also made.
I am writing this on the weekend and haven't been feeling well. Barry and I are afraid my hellish COPD is getting worse. If you are still smoking, for God's sake STOP!! Barry thinks if I hadn't quit smoking in 1999, I wouldn't be alive today. I quit cold turkey and never backslid. I had chronic bronchitis and really suffered. Since I quit, I never had bronchitis again.
See you next time. Comments welcome. (Edited and typed by Tam.)
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